Rain dampens Bulldogs' first-round victory

Published: Thursday, May 9, 2013 at 12:53 AM.

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But Southern Lee (9-8-1) muscled its way back into the game, scoring a goal at the 19:51 mark on an impressive steal and shot by Vicky Monroy.

“Really you have to make your decision before you receive the ball, what you’re going to do with it,” said Williams coach Dennis Deutschle. “We were receiving it, then taking a split second to decide what to do with it and by that time they were on us.

“I told them before the game this team is a hustling team, they’ve always been. They will shut you down very quickly.”

Margaret Powell answered Southern Lee’s only goal a minute later and Macy Lewis added a goal before the end of the first half.

Still, the Bulldogs gathered on the field for halftime with a few things to correct in the second half.

“It started out really good and then as we progressed I feel like we took advantage of thinking they were going to be an easy team,” Peters said. “I think that our second half would have been a lot better because at halftime we talked about what we needed to do. In the first half, we could have done better, but we did well.”

Wednesday hardly marks the first time the Bulldogs haven’t played a full game. Williams won eight games this season that were ended because of the nine-goal mercy rule.

The Williams High School girls’ soccer team made it through a somewhat sloppy first half with a three-goal lead against Southern Lee in a first round game of the Class 3-A state playoffs Wednesday night.

The Bulldogs discussed a few refining points during halftime, convinced the second 40 minutes would be produce sharper play.

But weather denied Williams the chance to iron out its issues.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms rolled into the area before the teams could start the second half and the game was called with host Williams winning 4-1.

Williams advances to a second-round matchup at Union Pines, which defeated Ledford 3-1 on Wednesday.

“The more we communicate, the better it looks. We didn’t do that as much,” said Williams midfielder Kelsi Peters. “That was what we were going to work on in the second half …”

Peters started the scoring with a right-footed blast 55 seconds into the game to stake the Bulldogs (17-2) to an early lead. When Mallory Bartles wired a penalty kick to the top shelf a little less than six minutes later, it looked like Williams was on the way to another blowout victory.

But Southern Lee (9-8-1) muscled its way back into the game, scoring a goal at the 19:51 mark on an impressive steal and shot by Vicky Monroy.

“Really you have to make your decision before you receive the ball, what you’re going to do with it,” said Williams coach Dennis Deutschle. “We were receiving it, then taking a split second to decide what to do with it and by that time they were on us.

“I told them before the game this team is a hustling team, they’ve always been. They will shut you down very quickly.”

Margaret Powell answered Southern Lee’s only goal a minute later and Macy Lewis added a goal before the end of the first half.

Still, the Bulldogs gathered on the field for halftime with a few things to correct in the second half.

“It started out really good and then as we progressed I feel like we took advantage of thinking they were going to be an easy team,” Peters said. “I think that our second half would have been a lot better because at halftime we talked about what we needed to do. In the first half, we could have done better, but we did well.”

Wednesday hardly marks the first time the Bulldogs haven’t played a full game. Williams won eight games this season that were ended because of the nine-goal mercy rule.

“Without timeouts in soccer, the only time you can fix things in soccer is at halftime — the major things that you need to work on,” Deutschle said. “That’s where not playing the second half, you don’t know if you’ve fixed them. You kind of leave with a bad taste in your mouth without being able to fix things.”

For Deutschle, Wednesday’s game wasn’t necessarily a case of poor play for his team. He just wanted to see a faster pace.

“It wasn’t bad. It’s just not what we’d like to see them do,” Deutschle said. “That’s what we told them at halftime, we said ‘You’re playing well skill-wise, technically. But we’re just not quick enough.’ ”

Based on what figures to be a soggy field for practices before the next round, Williams could move its practices to the sloping front lawn of the school.

It might end up serving the Bulldogs well for what they needed to work on during the second half of Wednesday’s game.

“We just play small-sided games, it’s quicker, less players, more touches and that’s about all you can do,” Deutschle said.